After the release of Episode 5 of Guild Wars 2’s Living World, it has been a busy time for the game. If you haven’t yet played Episode 5, I’d recommend you do. It’s pretty amazing and with Episode 6 right around the corner (it can’t be long now) there’s no better time to start playing Guild Wars 2. With that in mind, I’ve pulled together the latest news from around the official forums and community for your reading pleasure.

First on the list is a Youtube video that possibly shows the expansion of Mordremoth’s reach in The Silverwastes. I’ve scoured this zone a fair few times now and I honestly don’t remember seeing this huge, erupting vine by the blue Oasis. I’m of the opinion it has recently appeared which means there’s a real emphasis on players to now pay even more close attention to their surroundings. Over on Reddit there is also some discussions about this new vine growth.

If you’re still keen for further conspiracy theories and squeezing out as much information as possible from this new Living World Episode, Palwajoko over on Reddit has posted a pretty awesome breakdown of some papers you can find next to Ogden. It also looks like That_Shaman, a prominent Dataminer for the community, also found the same thing. Could we see Titan’s make an appearance?

I know we’ve already written a lengthy review of Echoes of the Past but GuildMag also have an impressions piece. Written by Miko Riel, it’s a pretty awesome breakdown. It’s well worth a read if you have a spare lunch break and better still, you should download the latest GuildMag issue while you’re over there.

Over to Under The Pale Tree and Verene has an excellent article on The Silverwastes. I don’t entirely agree with her seeking more Waypoints in the zone (I think that would wholly undermine the reason as to why there is only one) but she makes some good observations about the zone and provides a positive overview of what players can do there. I know I’ve said it in my review previously but I really think the single Waypoint works here. It’s not great if you’re a class without swiftness but if you work together with others the risk of death is slim and travelling becomes less of a burden. I also like the fact that during fights there’s a nervousness because you know if you die, you’ve one hell of a walk back.

Over on the official forums there’s a thread that caught my eye. The topic of discussion is Berserker items and as the thread poster insists, players should just choose any play style they want. The main thing that actually caught my eye about this post was a reply by Duke Blackrose.

The stack meta is much more problematic to the quality of the dungeon experience than the zerk meta. Both, however, speak to a different form of bad content design.

I’ve mentioned the issue of stacking recently in a WvW article and how it plagues so many parts of Guild Wars 2. Seeing 5 people in a dungeon stand on top of one another in a corner of the room is just ridiculous. How can that be good game design? In all honesty, I don’t think ArenaNet envisaged that splash heals and buffs would work to this degree and I think it desperately needs removing or significantly neutering. When it’s more effective to stand in a group and face tank an encounter than it is to strategically space out, something has gone horribly wrong.

Next on my list is a forum post that’s close to my heart: sPvP leavers. The thread hasn’t yet taken off but I totally agree with the original poster. The punishment if you leave 3 matches is already severe but it’s the failure of a single leaver that’s the biggest issue. When someone leaves once - in error, through a crash or just being AFK, it ruins the entire match. The likelihood of winning a 4v5 is near impossible especially on maps such as Spirit Watch where you need to cover points and potentially Orb carry/stop the Orb being carried. I’d propose anyone who doesn’t enter a match or goes AFK during one should have a 1 day ban. This should only apply to solo and team queue and should hopefully deter players from queueing if they know they can’t complete a full match.

Lastly and back to GuildMag, they have just published an awesome interview with the Living World team. The ArenaNet team responding to the questions are: Angel McCoy (Writer), Scott McGough (Writer), Bobby Stein (Writing Team Lead), and Leah Hoyer (Narrative Director). I won’t spoil it, but there’s some great questions and answers here. Go and check it out!

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